Restore standard hours for continuing care: NDP

Alberta's Opposition NDP is demanding the government restore and increase minimum hours of care for residents in continuing care facilities.

New regulations, passed through a cabinet order on Feb. 28 and set to take effect April 1, no longer include any government direction for how much time residents must receive direct personal or nursing care.

NDP Leader Rachel Notley said at a news conference Tuesday residents don't have any legal guarantee of minimum standard.

“The red tape that they're trying to eliminate is actually the fundamental basic protection that Alberta families are looking for their loved ones,” said Notley.

The previous regulations, which date back to 1985, included a requirement that each operator has “to provide an average of at least 1.9 paid hours of combined nursing and personal services per resident per resident day in (a) nursing home.” Twenty-two per cent of that care had to be provided by nurses.

Notley said the standard was already too low, and should be increased to at least match Ontario's standard, which in 2023 increased required hours per day per patient to four. The Health Standards Organization has said residents should get at least four hours of direct care each day.

The United Nurses of Alberta also flagged the elimination of the requirements in a statement.

“We are moving to zero hours of care. This is extremely dangerous,” said UNA president Heather Smith.

Health Minister Adriana Lagrange, answering questions from NDP continuing care critic Lori Sigurdson during a budget estimates committee meeting, said the province funds an average of 3.62 hours of care per day per resident.

“(It) is significantly improved upon from what was existing previously in the 1.9 hours in the nursing home operations regulation,” said Lagrange, who also pointed out the government has increased wages for health care aids by $2 per hour.

Lagrange said the previous regulations were outdated, and the government did “extensive” consultations before changing them.

“We heard that changes were needed to provide better flexibility and to allow the operators to develop staffing plans that really meet the needs of not just their facilities, but also their patients' unique needs,” she said.

Notley said that flexibility will undermine the health-care system.

“After COVID, we learned that continuing care is in crisis and private operators regularly cut corners to make a profit. This government wants to actually increase the opportunity for that to happen at the same time that they're introducing discretionary standards,” Notley said. “They're going from law to discretion.”